In his weekly podcast, Mitt Romney said over the weekend that President Obama is dealing "passively" with pressing issues, including the looming automatic spending cuts and tax increases. There's certainly some passivity on display, but I think Romney is looking at the wrong end of Pennsylvania Avenue.
Get ready to say "adios" to the House.
Majority Leader Eric Cantor announced Friday that the House would not hold scheduled votes the first week in October, pending the Senate vote on the continuing resolution. That means the House won't be in session again until after the election; the next House votes are scheduled for Nov. 13.
The House will only be in for three days [this] week; Wednesday through Friday. Likewise, the Senate is expected to cancel its October session after it passes the CR.
In fairness, it's not unusual for the House to wrap up early, especially in an election year, but heading home in mid-September is unusually early. And given that this Congress, arguably the worst ever, hasn't actually done anything meaningful, and has an important list of undone tasks, it's hard to defend Cantor's new schedule.
And what's pending? Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) noted the farm bill, the Violence Against Women Act, sequestration, postal reform, and the fiscal cliff. There's also the Veterans Job Corps Act and the soon-to-expire wind tax credit.
There is, in other words, a lot for Congress to do, and all of it is being pushed off until the lame-duck, post-election session. Someone's dealing with pressing issues "passively," but it's not the president.